Defence remains the Achilles’ heel of Labour’s plan for government

SIR – Labour’s first six steps for government sound good on a very superficial level (“What Starmer’s six new pledges mean”, report, May 16). But the defence of our country is the first – and by far the most important – job of any government, and it was not mentioned.

I would take Labour’s pledges more seriously if they acknowledged that the Armed Forces must be resourced to a level that ensures our security, and that this must take priority over all other uses of taxpayers’ money. If Labour made such a pledge it would earn its position in the polls and be fit for government.

M H Richards
Bicester, Oxfordshire

SIR – While listening to the Labour Party on defence (“Labour matches Tory’s £3bn-a-year Ukraine spending pledge”, report, May 14), I couldn’t help wondering: how many Sir Keir Starmers are there?

We remember how, if we had all followed Sir Keir’s advice, Jeremy Corbyn would have become our prime minister, and consequently we would no longer be in Nato, our nuclear deterrent would have been scrapped and we would have effectively become Europe’s Costa Rica, with no army, navy or air Force.

Brian Christley
Abergele, Conwy

SIR – It is worth remembering that members of the military don’t just fight wars; they also conduct search and rescue, assist the police, and step in to empty our bins, guard our prisons, drive our ambulances and put out fires when the strike-bound down tools and walk out.

Indeed, I was part of the tri-service medical personnel deployed to cover the nationwide ambulance strike of 1989-90. Thirty five years ago the military had the resources to ensure that people who needed emergency medical help received it. Today, I doubt it does.

Furthermore, the military will educate, train and qualify any tri-service staff who want to expand their skills – from paramedics to electricians – and will pay applicants while they qualify so that, unlike many university students, they won’t be saddled with huge debts. People who have been through the military tend to be smart, fit, punctual, disciplined, determined, have high standards and are able to work in teams or alone. So, when they leave, they are often a great benefit to employers in both the public and private sectors.

There are thus huge economic benefits to having a large military. Investing in it should be a priority.

Angus Long
Newcastle upon Tyne

Paying for the NHS

SIR – Geoffrey Young (Letters, May 12) asks whether he is wrong to suggest that those with substantial pension funds should be asked to make a contribution to their treatment by the NHS. The answer, I’m afraid, is that he is. He also believes that those spending time in hospital receive “free bed and food”. Wrong again, I’m afraid.

One of the most worrying aspects of the debate around the provision of healthcare in this country is that we have been fooled into believing that the taxpayer-funded NHS is free. It is about as free as train travel undertaken on a pre-paid season ticket. Another, of course, is that “our NHS” is the envy of the world. Strange, then, that no other country on the planet has adopted the same model. Or that our health outcomes rank poorly among developed nations.

Mr Young can be sure that those fortunate enough to have substantial pension funds will have contributed handsomely via the tax system for the paltry healthcare services available to them. They will rightly resent a request to pay for a second time.

Andy Berry
Hersham, Surrey

Who wants my vote?

SIR – As a lifelong Conservative voter, I have been deeply conflicted about my voting intentions in the coming general election. I was even considering a protest vote for Labour.

However, you then reported (May 12) the claim by Wes Streeting, the shadow health secretary, that a win for Susan Hall and the Conservatives in the London mayoral election would have been “a win for racists, white supremacists and Islamophobes the world over”.

Presumably that includes me: a decent, hard-working, aspirational, tax-paying and law-abiding citizen of the UK. Obviously I am not the sort of person wanted by the Labour Party.

Conflict resolved.

Mick Caulkin
Southampton

SIR – Many correspondents (May 12) suggest the Conservative Party has moved away from “conservatism”, and a growing chorus claims that Reform UK is now its true home. It is not.

In a recent poll, I read that Reform voters are against immigration and globalisation, and voted for Brexit. To me, these stances are not “conservative” at all. Traditional conservatives understand the need for, and the benefits of, immigration and globalisation.

As a normal, Right-leaning Conservative voter, I will not be going anywhere near Reform.

Chris Goddard
Newick, East Sussex

Unnecessary knight

SIR – I find it very hard to understand why Justin Welby, the Archbishop of Canterbury, should have been knighted (report, May 14). This is one of the highest profile roles in the British establishment. Does it really need additional grace and favour?

Richard Marlow
Harrogate, North Yorkshire

SIR – With the House of Bishops and upper echelons of the Church of England seeming increasingly keen to promote division and discord on so many fronts, hundreds of thousands of people – lay and clergy alike – despair at the decline of the Church we love.

A recent visit to my home county of Cornwall left me heartbroken at the accelerating collapse of parochial ministry within the Truro diocese under successive recent bishops.

The coup de grâce was a quite disgraceful Evensong at the cathedral, purporting to celebrate 30 years of women’s priestly ministry. It was actually an ignorant liturgy, much of which was a moan-fest of the “smash the patriarchy” kind. It was certainly no advertisement for the Church, nor for women ministers, many of whom I greatly admire.

Whither the Church of England, which, in John Henry Newman’s words, “I have loved long since, and lost awhile”?

Father Michael J Maine
Ditchling, East Sussex

Music in care homes

SIR – What a lovely interview with Keith Herdman (“‘I feel bored, insulted – and sick of Vera Lynn’”, Sunday, May 12).

I play at a couple of retirement homes and day centres with my trio, called Side By Side. I’m 82 and on guitar, keys and drum machine; Mickey, 83, is on bass; and Ken, 79, is on guitar. We’re all former professionals from the 1960s.

Mr Herdman is right: the folks don’t want war songs. One lady said to me: “We don’t want Bing Crosby and Vera Lynn. We want Do-Wah-Diddy and The Beatles”.

So that’s what we give them and they love it. I hope we can do it for many more years to come.

Malcolm Lenny
Tonbridge, Kent

SIR – When the body is frail but the brain still functions, the decision to go to an old people’s home is not easy.

My mother found herself surrounded by people so advanced with dementia that she was destined to go the same way. Bridge would have been a saviour, had her fellow inmates been able to play.

The most bizarre event was a visit to her room by a horse wearing a nappy. Death might seem a better option.

Jonathan Williams
Sleaford, Lincolnshire

Recipe for success

SIR – I agree that hearty food by Michel Roux Jr, without decoration, will be welcomed by diners (The Sunday Interview, May 12). Whoever thought a small pile of bubbles on a dinner plate would look attractive? Hopefully other chefs will follow suit.

If restaurants are struggling, they should give us diners what we want: good food at a fair price.

Jacky Staff
Enniskillen, Co Fermanagh

An awe-inspiring vision of the Last Judgment

SIR – The recent creation of a Doom painting for St Mary’s church in Woodham Ferrers, Essex, using traditional techniques (report, May 12) reminded me of many times admiring the glorious 15-century example in my own parish church, St Thomas’s in Salisbury.

It is the country’s largest and best preserved Doom painting, and, having been recently restored, is well worth a visit. I recommend binoculars: without them, I’d never have spotted the curious faces forming the devil’s knees.

Christ sitting in judgment is the Doom’s focal point, but the multitude of painted details, including my favourites – a dishonest alewife and a sinful bishop, with crowned monarchs heading in chains towards Hell – are equally awe-inspiring.

A more effective pictorial warning of your fate if religious teachings were not followed is hard to imagine, though today its phantasmagorical images make me smile.

Peter Saunders
Salisbury, Wiltshire

Treating anxiety

SIR  – In the debate about sick notes, Professor Dame Carol Black is quoted as stating that anxiety is not a medical condition, implying that it shouldn’t justify being certified as unfit for work (Business, May 12). This view is both misleading – since there is no single agreed definition of a medical condition – and unhelpful.

In my 40-year medical career I have seen many people who have suffered from severe anxiety, unable to sleep and barely able to function, and who were clearly unfit for work. Most people suffering from anxiety do work, and, after receiving treatment, recover. Sometimes a short period away from work facilitates this recovery. Those at the more severe end may spend many months on a waiting list for treatment.

I am quite sure Dame Carol agrees that prompt access to evidence-based treatment would be much more likely to reduce sickness absence than stigmatising anxiety sufferers as not suffering from a medical condition.

Dr Phil Taylor
Kilmington, Devon

Old-school tools

SIR – Otto Inglis’s letter (May 5) regarding the automatic use of power tools nowadays raised a wry smile in our household.

My wife tells me I am the only man she knows who, when given a job to do, will preferentially use hand rather than power tools. No noise and more control are but two of the reasons.

John A Landamore
Lutterworth, Leicestershire

Full English twists

SIR – I was surprised that the English Breakfast Society has said that masala beans, bao buns and chorizo can be part of a morning fry up (report, May 12). Of course they can, but they cannot be part of an English breakfast.

I have twice tried the English breakfast with an Indian twist at a well known (and expensive) restaurant in central Manchester. It was, on both occasions, uninspiring.

Michael Ganley
Heywood, Lancashire

SIR – Rather like the National Trust and parts of the Civil Service, the English Breakfast Society appears to have lost sight of its purpose and mission in advocating that bao buns and chorizo might now legitimately be served as part of the full English.

A stated aim of this illustrious society is “to restore the tradition of the English breakfast to its former glory”. It is now clearly failing to do so.

Whatever next – salad cream instead of ketchup, and a helping of deep-fried sushi?

Paul Embery
Pilling, Lancashire

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